Jobzines: Fanning the Flames...

by Robert Helms, X341465

[This article originally appeared in the March, 1997 issue of Industrial Worker. Please note that most contact information included is probably now out-of-date. -- The Ed.]

Jobzines are
one worthwhile method for a worker to stir up that pot that the boss
would rather have you leave alone. I've been stirring away by this
method lately, and I'm having a great time of it.Whenever a working
person decides to do something about their job, they will take an
inventory of the various approaches, and then decide which of
these are feasible in their situation. While the best approach of all is
to organize a dynamic union and then take it from there, many
workplaces do not lend itself easily to that method. For example,
you may be a completely casual worker who wanders from job to job, never
intending to stay for very long, like a waitress or a dishwasher. The
employer who you actually see and dislike may not be the
employer who pays you, as is the case if you're an office temp or a paid
volunteer. The size and physical layout of the job site may be another
obstacle. A human services worker, caring for disabled
people in one among fifty rural group homes, or a visiting nurse, will
face a major problem in finding enough coworkers to form an organizing
committee before the next step can be attempted. One's work
may be off on the fringes of things, or entirely illegal, as with a
phone sex worker or a nude dancer, or a prostitute. For that matter,
your boss could be a gangster, and not a regular businessman. Even
worse, you could be in the army, where the discussion of an organizing
drive can land you in Leavenworth. That'll put the chill on it every
time!For workers such
as these, one viable method of changing the situation is to create a
"jobzine." If it doesn't change anything on one's own jobsite, it
may, at least, increase the awareness among workers in the same
occupation. The term derives from "fanzine," which is a self-published
journal by the fans of a particular band or type of music. A jobzine
focuses on one's life as a worker, and is totally under the control of
the one who produces it. Typically it will consist of only a few stapled
sheets, have a circulation of 100 copies or less, and be
produced on the company's copier or in a pirate-friendly copy shop where
the editor has a discount. All of this depends on the skills and
resources of the editor. The important things to remember are that
a jobzine can't be destroyed by a boss or a union buster, it can contain
literally anything, and it will happen even if the editor is anonymous
or has never spoken to a single coworker about the project.About two years
ago, I began volunteering as a healthy subject for experiments that
pharmaceutical firms must perform on humans before they can market
a new drug. I am paid for doing this on a piece-work basis, but the
compensation is often worth the trouble. In this line of work, one gets
to know a lot of fellow guinea pigs, especially in Philadelphia,
where there are many research units in the same area. There is a
distinct culture among us because of the way we are isolated together
for weeks at a time, sharing a rather odd experience. However, almost
none of the usual rules of organizing apply to human guinea pigs. We are
not "employees," and our relationship with a particular unit doesn't
take on the grinding quality of a workplace. We are expected
to act like civilized people and to arrive and be stuck with the needle
on time. Beyond this, we simply sit around reading, gabbing or watching
videotapes. However, the recruiter who signs the volunteer
on has the power to refuse anyone admission, and so there is an
understanding that troublemakers need not return , just like in a
regular workplace. There are good units and bad ones. Instead of labor
laws
we have ethical codes that are interpreted and enforced, after a
fashion, by a board of doctors and two federal agencies.What, I asked
myself, can a labor activist do in such a situation? In a departure from
the various organizing efforts with which I'd been involved, I
took the example of two guys who had already taken possession of the
terms of debate, as well as the culture of their jobs by publishing
jobzines. They are Dishwasher Pete of Dishwasher and Keffo of Temp
Slave, which are the classic definitive works of the genre.Pete has become a
legend in the world of zines during the eight years he's been in print.
He travels everywhere from Alaska to an oil derrick in the
Gulf of Mexico, getting jobs as a dishwasher and throwing them away
without a care, but writing insightful memoirs along the way from the
anti-authoritarian worker's point of view. Cartoonists render some
pieces into visual form, and dish washing-related passages from
literature and history punctuate the every issue of this modestly
presented journal. Dishwasher most distinctly captures the
culture of the
occupation by conveying the attitudes of “dishdogs" toward themselves
and their work, and savoring everything from early model dish machines
to 1940s vintage restaurant training manuals, to historical
accounts of dishwashers on strike at various times and places. Pete has
been known to conduct some first-rate research. Keffo's zine Temp Slave
is also successful, and is now coming into its tenth issue.
He fills it with criticisms and statistics on major temp agencies, a
letters column, memoirs of rotten agencies and worse bosses by himself
and his readers, and excellent cartoons. Every issue is relevant
to the slave's life from beginning to end, and is peppered with Keffo's
raw, much-loved "rip-'em-a-new- asshole" writing style.In order to do
what these guys had done, which meant to take ownership for ourselves,
the workers, of both the guinea pig subculture and the terms of
ethical debate regarding the use of human subjects for drug experiments,
I started a zine called Guinea Pig Zero, In it, I share
information about things like the experiments on inmates of Nazi
concentration camps, current news accounts of a young woman who
volunteered for a $150 gig and lost her life in the bargain, short
literary selections on the topic, photos and illustrations, drug study
memoirs by me and other guinea pigs, and report cards on particular
research units.These report cards
were taken seriously and were covered in the press. Some time later, I
was delighted to learn that one in particular had led
directly to the correction of a problem. My write-up of the Robert Wood
Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, included the important fact that a
volunteer needed to pester nurses before receiving his
own copy of the informed consent document, which amounts to a heavy
violation of the ethical rules. I knew shortly afterwards that the zine
was being discussed by researchers, mostly with approval, but it
was a few months before a fellow guinea pig described his recent study
at the same institution, "They laid two copies [of the consent form] in front of me," he said,
"one of which was for me, right at the beginning, After I
had read it and signed, the lady put the thing into my hand, and kept
double-checking afterward to make sure I wasn't leaving it behind.'" The zine has
improved the quality of the debate on bioethics by reminding the public
that we have an awareness and a will and we're careful not to be
casually misused by researchers, who we trust as far as we can throw
them, but not an inch farther. The pharmaceutical companies, however,
are hopelessly untrustworthy. My fellow research volunteers and I
now have a forum to ourselves. We have a great deal of satisfaction from
a creative project that's been a big success. It's important to
realize, though, that the success of Guinea Pig Zero is helped
along
by the intense public interest directed at human research these days.
Another major boost is that my comrade Alexis Buss does the zine's
layout so well that GPZ's latest issue has waltzed into the company
of professionally polished magazines simply because of her involvement.Why not look over a
jobzine or two, think about your job, and start doodling up a jobzine?
If you have no computer, handwrite the thing, as many
zinesters do. Get as creative as you like, or just give 'em the straight
facts. You've got nothing to lose but your boredom.Jobzine ReviewsThese will give you a better idea of the various types of jobzines, and how to send for them (in alphabetical order).Adventures of an Unemployed Entomologist
#6 & #7. The anonymous bug expert is still working as a temp, but
practices her profession with a
passion nonetheless, She writes very well, so that one learns all about
insects in a serious, but enjoyable, way while perusing this
cleanly-prepared, cleverly illustrated newsletter-style zine. She also
reviews museum shows, insect books, and the hiring practices of her
would-be employers. I strongly recommend this one, both as a jobzine and
as a bugzine. I grabbed this issue by the base of the wing,
bashed it on the ground, and pecked out its meat, the way a house
sparrow devours a 17-year cicada, on the day it came in the mail. This
is not something I do with every zine I get, let me tell you! Send
$2 to: UE, P.O. Box 3026, Worcester MA 01613-3026Blow My Colon
#3. Not one of my favorites, but worth reading, BMC is more
sensational than it needs to be but reflects the helplessness workers
feel on the job in its section "101 ways to murder your boss." We know
that we can't really do anything about the asshole, so we talk about
killing him, get high, and forget it -- this is the sad, but
common attitude of U.S. workers. I've heard people saying, "what if a
pallet fell on his head by accident" so many times that it's tiresome by
now. However, few people discuss bossicide seriously, and the
subject is totally forbidden in the mainstream media. When Joe the
janitor comes to work with an Uzi and forty extra clips, the boss is
almost certain to be the first one down, but the papers say only that
a crazy guy shot his coworkers, and then wander off into his tragic
personal life. Anyway, BMC devotes a lot of space to gas station and
convenience store work, and carries job stories that are as good as
any jobzine's. For two bucks, it's a square deal. Pasted-up &
xeroxed. Cash to BMC, PO Box 1881, Santa Ana CA 92702Dishwasher (Described above). Hand made. Send $1 to DW, PO Box 8213, Portland OR 97207-8213.The Door
#149. A dissident jobzine for Christian ministers -- just what you've
always prayed for. This time-honored, glossy-covered organ of
satire has a 20-odd year history of bashing televangelists, popes and
Mothers Theresa. The present cover anoints Beavis & Butt-Head the
"Theologians of the Decade," for their timeless utterances "Thou
Shalt Not Suck!" and "The Bible kicks Butt!" Also wonderful are an
interview with a Christian nudist, lewdly religious personal ads, great
cartoons, and plenty else, that carries with it a quick wit and
a professional command of Scripture. It's rather special when someone
slams the problems of religion from the inside. Send $22.95/ year (6
issues) or $4.50/copy to: The Door, PO Box 616, Mount Morris IL
61054-7610, or call 1 (800) 597-3667Fast Food Janitor
#7. Sub-titled "The thanks I get." Gary Peterson is schlepping away at
the lousiest of jobs, and writing about the particulars
thereof, especially as it affects his body and its various functions. A
bit overpriced, but where else can you get a careful comparison of the
ass-widths of the staff of the Hardee's in Baldwin, Wisconsin?
Hand-written. $3 to: FFJ, PO Box 136, Hammond WI 54015Lackluster Jobs
#1 . This one's a gem, and knows that it's a jobzine. The editors
interview various types of workers, getting the seamy side
of their professional jobs and creating a large, neatly done zine with a
silkscreened cover, no less. Strongly recommended. $2.95 to LLJ c/o Amy
Balkin & James Harbison, 456 14th St. #8, San Francisco CA
94103 McJob # 1,
#2 & #3. "The zine for the disenchanted employee of low-paying
jobs," McJob is a well-edited and quite interesting jobzine,
describing the current condition of the US work force. The narratives
evaluate jobs .the real way, i.e. for the environment. the boss, the
stealing potential, and the way the person quit or got the ax.
There's one report of a job suffered by a "girl reporter," as “an
ambassador of Washington, D.C.," which reveals just how thin the veneer
of patriotism is as it's presented to tourists at Arlington
National Cemetery in those open buses. McJob takes in good contributed
stories, cartoons and news clips, all of which keep right on the clear
thread of the sheer absurdity of our lives as disposable
slaves. Featured in #1 is an egg donor consent form, which is a real
pain in the gut. This is one of the best jobzines out there. Hand-made,
computer layout. Send $2 to: Julie Peasley. PO Box 11794.
Berkeley CA 94712-2794Static #1
(Summer 1996) This is a sabotage on the jobzine, if you will, and a
sharp-looking piece of work at that. Huge at 62 pages, with
fold-out sheets and variously colored stock. it's just the zine you need
for skimming some of the cream off your boss's profits, and sabotaging
billboards for the sake of humanity, and all of that scammy,
youthful, poetic terrorism stuff. It's a well laid out, usable
presentation of baseline anarchist non-cooperation. I like the "Sidewalk
Bubblegum" cartoons by Clay Butler and the illegalist strategies to
get back what is ours. All of these are bad things to be prosecuted for,
but hey, we've all got one foot in a forced labor camp and the other
foot on a banana peel, anyhow. Desktop published. $3 to
Squeaky, 1750 30th Street # 198, Boulder CO 80301Stupor #5:
Stupor goes to work. The employment issue. (January 1996) is "dedicated
to publishing anonymous confessionals and rants for
readers." This one is about as good as Fast Food Janitor, I
guess, and shares the same tendency to wander away from job issues
toward sexual anecdotes and clippings of bare breasts. I'm not
complaining,
since many people ventilate their slave-frustrations with just this sort
of chatter. I remember it well from my days as a factory worker.
There's one piece about a guy volunteering for an endoscopy study,
which is quite a wiggler. Free. 2639 Evaline, Hamtramck MI 48212Temp Slave! (Described above). Offset printed, neatly done. To order, send money to: Keffo. PO Box 8284, Madison WI 53708-8284Xtra Tough
#1. If you're wondering how things are for the herring and salmon
fishing crews along the coast of Alaska, this jobzine is where to
find contributions from editor Moe and her shipmates. Fun to read,
hand-made. $1 to: XT c/o Moe, PO Box 4076. Kodiak AK 99615